The present invention relates to plasma display panels (PDPs), and, more particularly, to a driving circuit and a driving method of a PDP.
A PDP is a display panel suitable for middle/large-sized displays. As the size of the PDP is increased, its power consumption increases. Thus, for product efficiency reasons, a need exists to reduce the power consumption of middle/large-sized displays.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional PDP 100. The conventional PDP 100 includes M data electrodes D1 through DM, N scan electrodes Y1 through YN, N sustain electrodes X1 through XN, and discharge cells C11 through CNM arranged in N rows and M columns. A voltage for driving the conventional PDP 100 is applied to a discharge cell which is formed at intersections between the electrodes. For example, a data electrode driving voltage, a scan electrode driving voltage and a sustain electrode driving voltage are applied to the discharge cell C11 through the data electrode D1, the scan electrode Y1 and the sustain electrode X1, respectively.
The discharge cells C11 through CNM in N rows and M columns correspond to pixels in N rows and M columns, respectively. In the pixels in N rows and M columns, to select the pixel in an nth (n being in the range of 1 to N) row and an mth (m being in the range of 1 to M) column, the scan electrode driving voltage including a scan voltage is applied to the discharge cell Cnm through the scan electrode Yn, and the data electrode driving voltage including an address voltage is applied to the discharge cell Cnm through the data electrode Dm. The selection of the discharge cells C11 through CNM will now be described with reference to FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 illustrates data electrode driving voltages V_D1, V_D2, V_D3 and V_D4 for respectively driving data electrodes D1, D2, D3 and D4 illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, an address period for selecting specific discharge cells from among driving periods of a PDP is illustrated.
The data electrode driving voltage V_D1 is for driving the data electrode D1. As illustrated in FIG. 2, an address voltage Va is applied to the discharge cell C11, the discharge cell C21 and the discharge cell C41, and a reference voltage Vg is applied to the discharge cell C31 and the discharge cell C51. In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 1, in the address period, the discharge cell C11, the discharge cell C21 and the discharge cell C41 are selected, and the discharge cell 31 and the discharge cell 51 are not selected. In this regard, a data sequence “1, 1, 0, 1 and 0” is sequentially transferred to the discharge cells “C11, C21, C31, C41 and C51” through the data electrode D1.
With the data electrode driving voltage V_D2 for driving the data electrode D2, the discharge cell C12, the discharge cell C22, the discharge cell C32 and the discharge cell C52 are selected, and the discharge cell C42 is not selected. With the data electrode driving voltage V_D3 for driving the data electrode D3, the discharge cell C23, the discharge cell C33 and the discharge cell C43 are selected, and the discharge cell C13 and the discharge cell C53 are not selected. With the data electrode driving voltage V_D4 for driving the data electrode D4, the discharge cell C24, the discharge cell C44 and the discharge cell C54 are selected, and the discharge cell C14 and the discharge cell C34 are not selected.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, in the address period, since the data electrode driving voltages V_D1, V_D2, V_D3 and V_D4 which swing between the address voltage Va and the reference voltage Vg need to be applied to the data electrodes D1, D2, D3 and D4, a large amount of power is consumed. As power consumption is increased, thermal issues, together with increased energy consumption, occur.